Bridgehampton Adopts $12.8 Million Budget Proposal

The Bridgehampton School Board was slated to adopt a $12.8 million budget proposal for the 2015-16 fiscal year on Wednesday night that proposes no significant cuts to programs or staff, and remains within the limits of a state cap on tax levy increases.

The spending plan is a 3.99-percent increase, or $492,309, from the current year’s, and it is paired with an approximately $11 million levy, roughly 3 percent more than the current year’s $10.6 million levy.

To ensure that Bridgehampton stayed within the state cap on property tax levy increases, Superintendent Dr. Lois Favre said, the district applied money from the fund balance and reserves to the proposed operating budget.

According to Dr. Favre, there are slight increases in technology costs, contractual expenses, and staff development to learn how to meet new state mandates.

Last year, the Bridgehampton School District pierced the tax cap by 5 percent and needed to hold a second vote to pass the budget, as it did not receive a supermajority of approval the first time around. Dr. Favre and other school officials have said this year that the district owed it to the community to come under the cap for 2015-16.

“The community supported us. I think the reason we’re in the shape that we’re in is because the community supported us,” Dr. Favre said earlier in this year’s budget planning process. “We’ll do our due diligence.”